Part 1 Introduction
So a quick indroduction
To introduce myself, I’m Mark Golbridge. Some of you may have seen me on the United Fan channel on Youtube called The United Stand – if you haven’t make sure you pay us a visit and join in with the fan channel that says it how it is for the fans.
In three words how would you describe yourself?
Good looking, intelligent and loaded. No, that just sounds arrogant. Good looking, intelligent and fairly well off. Ok, I’ll be serious now. Loyal, creative and passionate
What drives you as a person?
To start with, I’m obviously a passionate Manchester United fan and make no secret of the fact that I wasn’t born in Manchester. To me it’s irrelevant. I accept that being a Manc and supporting United is a unique feeling but it doesn’t make you any more of a fan. I’ve been educated in the United ways since I was a child, I have as good an understanding of the club and what it means as any fan I’ve ever spoken to about the club and I’m passionate about protecting that right. A fan should be judged on their knowledge of the game and the club, not their postcode. If I’m passionate about something I enjoy it and I’ll do all I can to make it work. As for me, you may have noted the use of the word passion on more than one occasion in this blog. And if I had to use one word that drives me it is that. If I’m not then there’s little point in trying because it will never have my full attention. It is this passion that has driven me to start the United Stand.
What quality in people do you value most?
I’m also very loyal and loyalty is something I hold in high regard. To use a line from a famous comedy with Robert De Niro,” there’s a circle of trust and once you’re in it you have my total backing. But if you betray that trust you’ll never be allowed back in.” Harsh maybe, but it’s served me well so far and it leaves you in a position where the people you’re close to are people you know have your back.
Part two, Interviewee’s topics
What do you do in your free time away from football? In other words if they was no such thing as football what would you be doing when you have a free moment?
Invent the game of football? No, I love football but if it didn’t exist I’d put my passion towards other things. I have an interest in film and TV – when I say film I can’t be doing with rom com’s or the latest Jason Statham flick. I like my films with a bit of depth and reality – The Departed, The Godfather and Gladiator spring to mind. As for TV, I very rarely have the opportunity to sit down and watch scheduled TV – other than football, which for this question doesn’t exist . However, I’m a massive fan of the sitcom genre – Only Fools and Horses being the one that fed my interest and then over the years I’ve really enjoyed The Office, Alan Partridge and recently The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.
Reading is another thing I enjoy. Sadly in recent years it’s something I’ve neglected. I’d like to use the excuse of lack of time but the truth is social media has taken over. Because when I think of the times, I used to read on the way to work, before bed etc – that time is now taken up by tracking twitter. I suppose it’s reading in a way but I do miss being engrossed in a decent book.
Why Manchester United?
My Grandfather loved football and the best player he ever watched live was Duncan Edwards. He adored Edwards and the Busby Babes and having witnessed their greatness it was a hammer blow to the heart when they were taken away from us on that fateful day in Munich.
Thankfully the club rose from the grave and achieved the dreams the babes had ripped away from them so cruelly. My Grandfather always said, there’s no greater story in football than Manchester United and he was right. From the tragedy of Munich, through the rebuilding of a dynasty in the sixties that culminated in that momentous European Cup win in 1968. Then back in to the wilderness for nearly three decades before a certain Alex Ferguson came down from the North and built an empire so successful it will never be repeated. No club comes close to the history we’ve enjoyed, but also at times endured. From Edwards, Charlton, Law, Best, Robson, Keane, Giggs and Scholes the club has entranced those of us fortunate enough to fall in love with it. And long may that continue.
Why did you start the United Stand, it seems like an awful amount of work?
The United Stand was my chance to combine two things I’m passionate about – Manchester United and the fans. The fans are losing their place in the modern game. The money men have moved in and the game has changed. Now it’s all about hype and taking money from your pocket. The fans used to matter, it was them the clubs and players wanted to please. Now the fans are the meal ticket. The one’s who stump up the money to feed the sponsors.
The United Stand is about giving a voice to the fans. We’re not interested in being liked by the media or playing by their rules. Our mantra is saying it how it is for the fans. So every Thursday and Sunday night at 9pm we have a Live United fan forum where fans can watch and join in the debate on our Live comment box. We’ve only been doing it for a few months but already we’ve built up a loyal following who get involved and we want to grow that further over the coming months.
Part 3, Interviewer’s topics
What kind of music do you enjoy?
I’m a Britpop boy. My real interest in music started and ended there if I’m honest. Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, Shed Seven, Ocean Colour Scene, The Bluetones, Radiohead, I listened to them all and even had my own band in the mid to late nineties and wrote my own songs. In fact, I remember doing a gig with Coldplay when they were unknowns and my music claim to fame is I liked them before they were popular – I actually helped Chris Martin out with a few lyrics on their debut album. I’m joking, but if he’d asked I’m sure I’d have come up with something better than it was all yellow.
Like him or not when you consider Justin Bieber for example made his name on Youtube, how powerful do you think social media is in today’s society? What is its potential both positive and negative?
Extremely powerful. Life isn’t all sweetness and light and using my baptism of fire with social media as an example, it demonstrates perfectly how quickly a false story can spread. The United Stand was formed because having guested on another channel I found their output a little unprofessional and fake and I wanted to offer something more accurate and identifiable to real fans of football – when I say real fans of football I wanted to replicate the type of conversations and attitude you get down the local pub with your mates every week. Anyway, being the new channel with a new voice on the block this put some of the others out a little and rather than approach us in a professional manner a hate campaign of lies was spread round social media making the first few months of our existence extremely difficult. And once a rumour has been circulated it’s very hard to recover.
What this shows is any message you want can go viral on social media with the right amount of effort and if it’s a negative one it can cause real harm. The majority of people are big enough to ride it out but what about the 14 year old child who is bullied on social media? The reality is Twitter, Facebook etc are fantastic but handled incorrectly they can have catastrophic results and more needs to be done in relation cyber bullying. I call them keyboard warriors, other people may choose a more abusive term, but social media is littered with people who type the most vulgar things and dish out the move vile abuse because they know they can get away with it. Put them in a public arena and they wouldn’t dream of saying it. That is the balance social media needs to strike but it’s a huge ask. The bottom line is I detest bullies and even when it’s sometimes best to turn the other cheek I find myself standing up for what I believe in. As the great saying goes, “Evil prospers when good people do nothing”
Looking at the stands at Premier league games the majority of fans are middle aged white men. This group of people is often accused or racist sexist and homophobia behaviour. What can football and them Premier league do to change this or is it a problem for politicians to solve?
How can we improve the white middle aged male stereotype of football fan? As a young lad in the late eighties my Dad used to take me all over the country to watch football and trust me it was a totally different world to now. Football is unrecognisable and has changed for the better immeasurably with families and a wide diversity of fans evident in every football ground around the country these days. More can be done though. There’s still an undercurrent of hooligan elements and groups in existence for all football clubs and the makeup of those groups is stereotypically white and male.
So how do we continue to improve and make football more diverse? Well I’d like to see a time in the not too distant future whereby, like rugby, fans can have a beer whilst they’re watching the football. The truth is it won’t happen though. Football is tribal and with that tribalism comes a distinct dislike for opposition fans. I admire rugby and how they can have fans of different teams sat together but that won’t happen in football and in a way I wouldn’t want it to. We’d lose the chanting from the away end and the banter and atmosphere that comes from having fans separated. What I do want to see is more demographics involved in football. And although we’re only a young United fan channel, one of the things we always wanted to do was bring a female in to the team as soon as possible. We’ve achieved that by identifying Anna Adams as a talented voice with a great understanding of the game who fits that criteria and on from that we’re very aware that although football is a very white male sport, the only way to balance that is to involve others. I firmly believe that is happening and will continue to happen.
Part 4, Philosophical questions
What advice would you give to your eighteen year old self?
I’d advise my 18 year old self to invent a social media platform whereby users can interact with each other but only through the use of 140 characters and call it Twitter. Seriously though, I wouldn’t change much. Yes I’ve made mistakes but that’s what life is about. The more you pick yourself up the more you learn. I don’t believe in regrets, I believe in fate and I think everything happens for a reason. There’s been times in my life when I’ve really needed help and help has been forthcoming, so I’d never wish to change the way my life has gone so far. Yes I could have done some things better and yes life has chewed me up and spat me out a few times. But amongst all that I’ve acquired some truly amazing life defining moments and I wouldn’t risk any of that for another throw of the dice.
If somehow you receive 1 million pounds tomorrow, what would you do with it?
What would I do with a million pounds? I’d give it all to UKIP. I’m joking of course. What would I do with a million pounds? Well it’s probably not enough to retire on these days as mad as that sounds. So I’d have to invest it in something? I think maybe I’d buy a few things I’ve always wanted, nice car, a box at Old Trafford, the entire DVD collection of Jason Statham movies…. Then the rest of it I’d probably just keep aside and look to invest. It’s a difficult question because a million pounds really isn’t enough to make you tell your boss to do one and walk out. It’d certainly come in handy though.
Clearly the United Stand is something you are looking to provide to as many people as possible. If people want to find out more about you and the United Stand how can they do it?
You can find me on The United Stand on youtube, @UnitedStandMUFC on twitter and we have our own website www.theunitedstand.com.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMmVPVb0BwSIOWVeDwlPocQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnitedStandMUFC?fref=ts
Interviewer’s comments
I have known Mark now for a few months. It was clear to me from the very start that he loved two things that I loved. Those been football and journalism. The word was used many times in this interview but Mark’s passion is easily evident both in this interview and in general conversation.
What Mark and the rest of the United Stand members are doing is simply fantastic. It gives fans a voice no matter where they are in the world.. This would not have being the case twenty or even ten years ago. Social media offers a chance opportunity to change this dynamic. As an Irish fan or any fan not from the same town or city of the team you support you can easily feel on the edge of the club. It can be like, knowing you only got invited to a social event to make up the numbers.
The main themes for this interview were social media and football both of which I am very passionate about.
I would agree with many of Marks comments about social media. We witness big issues like political movements, often by using hash-tags, we see businesses share their products and like already mentioned in the interview we see people become famous from social media. We also see social media on a smaller scale. We use it to keep in contact with loved ones in other countries, to find out about events, and let’s face it who would know when anybody’s birthday was if it wasn’t for Facebook. On a personal level I have had to put up with both the good and the bad of social media. Like Mark said I am at a stage where I can ignore the negatives that it brings. For example harassment, racism and bullying. Sadly the list goes on and on. Social media has opened up a whole new world for me. I have met so many interesting people from countries such as America, England, Austria, Germany and so many more. The greatest thing I have got out of social media is the chance to have a voice in both my opinions and my photography. A nobody can become a somebody if they are willing to put in the time. It is not like before where if you wanted to be a published journalist, you would need an editor in a newspapers approval. Now we all have an equal voice. This is something that democracy can’t even claim. Your age, gender, race, religion and so on have little bearing. If you have something of value and present it well, people will sit up and notice.
Whether its pop singers, politicians, sports starts or youtubers we often only see the person in the public light. It’s even worse with actors, because sometimes we can convince ourselves that the character they play is their true personality. I hope this interview like all interviews of this sort has shown that Mark and public figures in general are a lot more than what we see in newspapers and online. At the same time I do think it’s important to respect people’s privacy.
My own contact details
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Diarmuidii_mufc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiarmuidGillinghamsPhotography?ref=hl
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8-bbeZBrkZNwMSa7-6eAQ
Another Day Another Mind 